The UK's Government has passed the "Snoopers Charter"

The UK's Government has passed the

The UK's Government has passed the "Snoopers Charter"

Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords has passed the Investigatory Powers Bill, a bill which is better known as the "Snooper's Charter" to the public.

This bill is easily the largest surveillance law which has ever been passed in modern history, giving law enforcement and intelligence agencies a lot of additional powers, powers which some critics have called "terrifying" and "dangerous".

This means that the Investigatory Powers bill will be written into law in the near future, but what does that mean for us?

Amongst other things, the Investigatory Powers Bill will force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunications companies to store your internet browsing history, domain visits (not specific pages) and phone numbers that you have contacted for a period of 12-months. The bill will allow the police and intelligence agencies to carry out "targeted equipment interference", hack, on devices that are owned privately by citizens.

One other controversial aspect of the bill is that it will give the security services the legal power to use bulk collection methods on personal communications data, even in foreign regions. Other aspects of the bill will force companies to decrypt data on demand and tell the government about any new security features that are coming to their products before they officially launch.

Many provisions of the bill are vague, not detailing exactly how large regions can be for bulk data collection and how companies can be expected to decrypt data on demand, drawing a lot of criticism from political activists and tech companies alike.

The law will also set up an Investigatory Powers Commission (IPC), in which commissioners (serving or former senior judges) will review warrants and publish guidance on the "proper use of investigatory powers" when required.

Having passed through the House of Commons and the House of Lords all that the "Snoopers Charter" requires to become law is the "Royal Assent", which will turn the bill into an Act of Parliament.

The Royal Assent is essentially a formality, having not been withheld by a British monarch since 1707, which effectively means that the Investigatory Powers Bill should become law by the end of the year.

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